Ricky Martin's announcement still makes impact

NEW YORK -- It's been almost a year since Ricky Martin announced to the world he was gay, but among many gay Latinos, a community that has lived in obscurity for fear of harassment or rejection, his message still is making an impact.

"Today I ACCEPT MY HOMOSEXUALITY as a gift that gives me life," Martin wrote last March in an open letter to his fans, after refusing to speak about his sexual orientation for years. "I feel blessed to be who I am!"

"By hiding, he validated millions of closeted gays' that homosexuality is not honorable," says Daniel Shoer Roth, a Venezuelan columnist of the Miami Herald who is gay.

"In the gay community we have always known that Ricky Martin is one of us. Because he is an idol, Ricky has paved the way so these gays now say, 'If he could do it, so can I.'"

The revelation of the Puerto Rican singer and activist, whose album "Music+Soul+Sex" came out last week, has had positive effects for the Latino gay community and the society in general, according to advocates for the gay, lesbian, and transgender community.

"The example of Ricky Martin as citizen of the world, humanitarian, father, intelligent person, is a good example for those who have obvious stereotypes and also for those who don't have prejudice but have ideas that may act as barriers in the lives of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders [LGBT]," says Jarrett Barrios, president of GLAAD [The Gay&Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation]. "Ideas like 'a gay man is good to water my flowers at home but not for business' limit the opportunities for the LGBT community."

Pedro Julio Serrano, communications manager of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, says that "when Ricky made the announcement the tectonic plates moved, it was almost like an earthquake."

"It was one of the most important news in the fight for equality that the Latino LGBT community leads. It touches the hearts and opens the minds of many people," says Serrano, who became a friend of the artist after his announcement.

Ricardo Torres, a Mexican man who was raised in Texas and lives in Chicago, was in the audience when Oprah Winfrey interviewed Martin last year. He thanked Martin, saying that his revelation was good for his own relationship with his mother.

"For the first time my mother asked me personal questions. For almost 20 years she has known that I am gay but she never asked anything ... she told me not to tell anyone else in my family. It was a secret ... a big taboo," says Torres, 38.

"Everything changed after Ricky came out of the closet. Like someone in our family came out and by doing so gave us the right to live more openly."

And the audience in general seems to support Martin.

Me, which came out Nov. 2, was a New York Times best-seller and its Spanish edition, Yo, was the No. 1 biography in the United States. His single "Lo mejor de mi vida eres tu," released the same week of the book, was at the top of Billboard's Latin Pop Songs chart (English version "The Best Thing About Me Is You" debuted on Oprah and was officially released on Feb 1.)

"If in Puerto Rico people used to love him, now they love him even more," says Serrano, who recounted that during Martin's first public appearance post-announcement, in April at the Latin Billboard Awards, the singer not only received a standing ovation in the theater but a multitudinous cheer from the people on the streets.

"That says a lot about the welcoming and I think demonstrates the reality of our society," he says. "Even though we still have to fight a lot of homophobia, there is much more acceptance today."

According to statistics published online by The Trevor Project, a help-line for LGBT teenagers who might be contemplating suicide, LGBT youth are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers; more than one third have attempted taking their own lives and those in highly rejecting families are more than eight times as likely to have attempted suicide than LGBT peers who reported no or low levels of family rejection.

Torres considers that "one of the biggest positive effects [of Ricky's coming out] is that Latino teenagers that are struggling with their sexuality have an example to follow."

"Ricky gives hope to thousands of teens that are recognizing their sexual orientation or their gender identity and this tells them that even when there is homophobia and lack of acceptance, they can get to be whatever they want to be," Serrano says. "I believe that with his story he is saving lives, and for me that is crucial, it is wonderful."